An-Nasir Yusuf

an-Nasir Yusuf (1228-1260) was the Emir of Damascus and Aleppo from 1250 to 1260, succeeding al-Muazzam Turanshah. A member of the Ayyubid dynasty, he unsuccessfully rebelled against the Bahri Mamluks, with his attempts to become the new sultan failing with each of his invasions. He was executed by the Mongol Empire when it sacked Aleppo in 1260.

Biography
an-Nasir Yusuf was born in 1228, the son of al-Aziz; he was the great-grandson of Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt. He succeeded his father as the Ayyubid ruler of Damascus and Aleppo in 1250 on his death, the same year as the ascension of the Bahri Mamluks to power under Aybak. an-Nasir Yusuf refused to recognize Aybak as the ruler of the Bahri Sultanate of Egypt, and he sought to restore the Ayyubid dynasty to power with himself as sultan. In October 1250, the mamluk general Faris ad-Din Aktai repulsed his invasion of Egypt, and his repeated invasions of Egypt failed. In 1254, he made a truce with the crusaders, having petitioned King Louis IX of France for his support in restoring the Ayyubids to power in Egypt. an-Nasir Yusuf sent a gift to Hulegu Khan, asking for the Mongol Empire to assist him in fighting the mamluks. However, the Mongols demanded that he submit immediately, and an-Nasir then asked for the mamluks to intervene against the Mongols. The Mongol general Kitbuqa besieged Aleppo in 1260 as a result of an-Nasir Yusuf's refusal to submit, and he was executed along with his brother before the city was sacked.